Rotor with impeller vanes



March 31, 1964 F. SMITH 3,127,094

ROTOR WITH IMPELLER VANES Filed Jan. 30, 1965 United States Patent Ofiice 3,127,094 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 3,127,094 ROTOR WITH IMPELLER VANES Lewis F. Smith, Schenectady, N.Y., assignor to Mechanical Technology Incorporated, Lathanr, N .Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 254,937 1 (Ilairn. (Cl. 230-434) This invention relates to rotors for devices such as regenerative compressors, turbines, pumps, fan impellers and the like, and particularly to rotors with impeller vanes extending from one or both faces along marginal face bands thereof. Some rotors have been proposed with impeller surfaces created by interposing radially positioned vanes between spaced apart plates, some by having a relatively thick plate with notches formed in its sides and/or periphery to provide radially disposed impeller vanes, others by providing radially disposed vanes on the periphery of a drum, and still others by casting the rotor with vanes thereon. The rotor with vanes between and separating spaced apart plates was inefiicient and impractical, and the thick plate with vanes cut therein were heavy, bulky, and inefiicient. They were all relatively expensive, cumbersome and inefficient.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved rotor with impeller vanes, which may have an exceptionally small axial thickness between the vanes and the center of rotation of the rotor, and desired axial widths and radial lengths of the vanes, which enables considerable range in the design of the vanes, which reduces the radial fluid force on the impeller, which is exceptionally effective in its operation, which may be made of sheet materials and metal stampings, which may be formed of simple and inexpensive parts that can be assembled easily and rapidly, which will produce increased pressure at the same tip speed, which will have minimum radial force from fluid pressure build up around the rotor, which may be remarkably accurate and uniform in size, which, because of uniform accuracy in manufacture, can have very close clearance with the housing in which the vanes travel, which will have high efficiency in operation, and which will be relatively simple, durable, compact, efficient, practical, and inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of several embodiments of the invention, and the novel feature will be particularly pointed out in connection with the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a rotor constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of a part of the same, the section being taken approximately along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective of a part of the same;

FIG. 4 is a perspective of a part of a rotor also constructed in accordance with this invention but illustrating another embodiment thereof;

FIG. 5 is an edge view or plan of a part of a rotor, also constructed in accordance with this invention, but showing another embodiment thereof;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the same;

FIG. 7 is an edge view or plan of a part of another rotor, also constructed in accordance with this invention but illustrating still another embodiment thereof;

FIG. 8 is a. side elevation of the same;

FIG. 9 is an edge view or plan of a part of another rotor, also constructed in accordance with this invention, but illustrating still another example thereof;

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of the same; and

FIG. 11 is an edge view or plan of a part of still another rotor embodying the invention but showing another example of the same.

The rotor of this invention employs a relatively thin circular disc of sheet material, and the vanes are of sheet material either made separate and attached to the disc, or struck from the disc. The disc may he a single circular plate, or a plurality of circular plates aligned and secured together face to face to make a composite disc.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotor includes a plate-like, circular disc 10 of sheet material having a plurality of notches 11 cut or formed in its periphery. These notches have a radial side wall 12 and an oblique side wall 13, are spaced apart around the periphery of the disc, and have the same radial depths. A separate vane 14 is secure against the radial side wall 12 of each notch in any suitable manner, such as by screws 15 that pass through the vanes and are screwed into the wall 12 of the notch. While these vanes may be planar, they are shown as arcuate, with their impellor faces concave and extending preferably to equal extent to opposite sides of the disc 10.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 4, the rotor disc 16 is plate-like and may be formed of a single layer of sheet material, such as sheet metal, or it may be formed of thin layers of sheet material aligned and abutting face to face and secured together. To the opposite faces of this disc 16, along a marginal band of each face, a plurality of vanes 17 are secured in a row. These vanes are separate from one another, of angle bar shape, and secured to the faces of the disc 16 in any suitable manner such as by rivets, screws or bolts 18, with their impeller faces 19 disposed generally radially of the disc and extending only part way from the periphery of the disc to its center. The vanes are arranged in pairs on opposite faces of the disc, with the vanes of each pair aligned with one another, and secured to the disc by the common fastening rivets or bolts. One arm of each vane is disposed flat against a face of the disc, with the other arm of the vane extending sidewise from the disc face at an approximate right angle to the face of the disc from which that arm extends.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotor disc 26 is formed of a pair of discs or circular plates 21 of sheet material, such as of sheet metal, aligned with one another and secured together face to face. Each such plate 21 has a plurality of tongues or vanes 22 struck out from the marginal band of a face area thereof, in a row around the plate. These struck out vanes or tongues 22 are spaced apart in the row, and those on each side of the disc extend to the same distance from the face of the plate, have their impeller faces 23 disposed generally radially of the disc 20, extend radially to the same distances from the periphery and the center of the disc 29, but only part Way toward the center of the disc 20. The plates 21 are also secured together face to face close to the bases of the tongues or vanes 22, such as by rivets or bolts 24. The formation of the tongues leaves apertures 25 in the plates in front of the vanes and of the same radial dimensions as the radial dimensions of the vanes.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the rotor disc 26 is formed of three thin plates of sheet material, aligned with one another and disposed in face to face abutting relation to one another, and coupled together in that relation. The center one 27 of these plates may be made of any suitable sheet material including sheet metal, and the outermost sheets 23 are preferably made of sheet metal or other sheet material from which tongues 29 may be struck or formed, or which material may be molded or cast with the tongues 29 extending from a face thereof. The plates 28 have the tongues 29 struck to one side therefrom, when the material is suitable for the striking out of tongues, which tongues have their impeller faces 30 disposed generally radially of the disc 26, in a marginal face band close to the periphery of disc 20, extending only part way to the center of the disc, all to the same extent laterally from the disc 20, and all having their radial outer edges in the same circle about the center of the disc and the radial inner edges in the same circle about the center of the disc. The outermost plates 28 are also secured together and to the center plate 27 by rivets or bolts 31 that pass through all of the plates 27 and 28 adjacent the bases of the tongues or vanes. Striking out of tongues 29 will leave apertures 32 in the outer plates 28 but these apertures are closed by the center plate 27.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FlGS. 9 and 10, the construction is similar to that of FIGS. 7 and 8 except that the plates 28 are identical and when brought against opposite faces of the center plate 27 the tongues or vanes 29 will appear to have been struck out in opposite directions in the two opposite plates 28, and the impeller faces 30 of the vanes will then not be in axial alignment with one another. An expense saving in connection with FIGS. 9 and is that the plates 28 may be identical so that one forming or molding die may be used for both plates 28.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 11, the rotor disc is formed of a center plate 33, and two outermost plates 34 that are aligned with and abutting the opposite faces of the center plate 33. The plates 34 have struck out vanes 35 arranged in a circular face band adjoining the peripheries of the plates, and in this embodiment the vanes are not in pairs whose members are axially aligned on opposite faces of the rotor, but on one plate 34 are staggered with respect to those on the other plate 34, which permits each plate 34 to be connected by spot welding 36, at the bases of the vanes, to the center plate 33, provided that the plates 33 and 34 are of sheet metal, such as sheet steel, which can be spot welded. The faces of the vanes are disposed radially of the centers of the plates, and the inner edges of the vanes on each plate 34 are in the same circular plane, and the outer edges of the vanes are in the same circular plane. The vanes on each plate 34 also extend to the same distance from that plate. The striking of vanes 35 from each plate 34 leaves apertures 37 in the plates 34 between the vanes, but these apertures are closed by the continuous surfaces of the center plate 33.

A rotor made in accordance with this invention may be formed of sheet material by inexpensive and accurate operations and the thickness of the rotor disc, radially inward from the vanes may be very small, so as to have minimum radial force from fluid pressure build up around the rotor, and will produce increased output pressure at the same tip speed. Because of the accuracy of the parts and the ability to run with close clearance to the hous- 4.- ing, excellent efliciency of operation is obtained. The vanes on each face of a plate are identical and run in the same paths in the housing.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts, which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

I claim:

A rotor for compressors, turbines, pumps, fans and the like, comprising a pair of circular discs of sheet material, one of said discs including a plurality of integral identical vanes extending in the same direction outwardly from one face only and having been bent from said one of said discs, said vanes projecting parallel with respect to each other and disposed in a radial plane through said disc and extending radially only part way from the marginal edge of said disc toward the center thereof, said vanes forming strike-outs in said disc, all of said strikeouts of said disc being spaced an equal distance along a marginal band adjacent the outer periphery of said disc, and all of said strike-outs being positioned with respect to each other and with respect to each vane on the same side of their respective vanes, the other of said discs being an exact duplicate of said one of said discs, said pair of discs being connected in back-to-back relationship with the vanes of said one disc and the vanes of said other disc projecting outwardly in opposite directions, the vanes of said one disc when in back-to-back relationship being radially otfset approximately one half the distance between the vanes of the said other disc and bent in a direction reverse from the vanes of said other disc, said rotor including a central plate of sheet material located between said pair of discs having a continuous surface for closing over said strike-outs, said central plate being substantially the same diameter as said pair of discs, and said rotor including means for securing said central plate and said pair of discs together.

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